Gripping feeder for strip or wire stock

In a gripping feeder for an intermittent feeding of continuous stock in a predetermined direction in an intermittently operated machine for processing said stock, comprising

• a stationary retaining gripper pivotally mounted on a housing of said gripping feeder,
• a carriage preceding said retaining gripper when viewed in said predetermined direction and reciprocable in and opposite to said predetermined direction,
• a feeding gripper mounted on and movable in unison with said carriage,
• a first actuating mechanism for opening and closing said retaining and feeding grippers in phase opposition to each other in step with the intermittent operation of said machine, and
• a second actuating mechanism for reciprocating said carriage and feeding gripper in and opposite to said predetermined direction in step with the intermittent operation of the machine,
• the improvement residing in that
• a rail is provided, which extends transversely to said predetermined direction,
• said second actuating mechanism comprises a feed rocker extending transversely to said predetermined direction, a slider, which is mounted on said feed rocker to be slidable along the same and along said rail and defines a fulcrum for said feed rocker, feed drive means for oscillating said feed rocker about said fulcrum, and transmitting means for reciprocating said carriage in and opposite to said predetermined direction in response to said oscillation of said feed rocker, and
• means are provided for holding said slider in a selected position relative to said rail so that the stroke length of said carriage depends on the position of said slider relative to said rail, wherein
• said retaining gripper comprises a movable jaw formed by a second jaw arm, and
• said second actuating mechanism comprises a camwheel, means for rotating said camwheel in step with the intermittent operation of said machine, a cam follower rocker having a first rocker arm cooperating with said camwheel and a second rocker arm, and a plunger bearing at one end on said second rocker arm and at the other end on said jaw arm, wherein
• said jaw arm constitutes a third rocker arm, a gripping rocker having a fourth rocker arm,
• a release-controlling camwheel is provided,
• means are provided for rotating said release-controlling camwheel in step with the intermittent operation of said machine,
• a releasing cam follower rocker is provided, which has a fifth rocker arm cooperating with said release-controlling camwheel and a sixth rocker arm, and
• a releasing plunger is provided, which bears at one end on said fourth rocker arm and at the other end on said sixth rocker arm,
• said releasing cam follower rocker is fulcrumed to said housing by an eccentric bearing, and
• a fluid-operable piston-cylinder device is provided, which is operatively connected to said bearing and operable to move said releasing cam follower rocker between operative and inoperative positions.